Global Warming Skepticism – a Medical Condition?

Global Warming Skepticism – a Medical Condition? The controversy continues regarding a paper in press in Psychological Science by Stephan Lewandowsky et al. of the University of Western Australia. The title is ‘NASA faked the moon landing, Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science.’http://websites.psychology.uwa.edu….

There are many comments in the blogs on how deficient the paper is including those by Thomas Fuller and Steven McIntyre. McIntyre hones in on the statistical deficiencies in the paper and the inability to replicate the findings. Fuller’s approach is broader. He brings out that for decades it has been common practice by some to demonize opponents including claiming the opponents have a medical condition. For example, in 1851 (Fuller dates it as 1861) Dr Samuel Cartwright invented the term drapetomania to describe what he claimed to be a mental deficiency in slaves who wished to flee captivity. Apparently in Lewandowsky’s view, those who demand observational data supporting claims that human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming / climate change must be suffering from a mental deficiency. They simply cannot accept the recognized authority of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

One wonders how Lewandowsky et al. would treat the Right Climate Stuff Team – retired members of the Apollo team who are demanding observational data from those who are spreading global warming / climate change fears. Are they living a special form of dementia? Please see links under Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.

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